Kahaani, the 2012 Hindi language mystery thriller starring Vidya Balan as the female protagonist, is one of the most prominent examples of a film from the avenging women genre of revenge films.
A significant feature of these kinds of films is an uncanny resemblance to extra-cinematic icons and events. I think it would be interesting to unpack this aspect of cinema through the way Vidya Bagchi, the role of Vidya Balan, is depicted through the film and how the audience perceives this depiction.
The film has been made against the backdrop of the Durga festival being held in Kolkata. From the blatant visual in the poster to the references made throughout the film, we can see that Vidya Bagchi is given a position similar to Goddess Durga if not being an exact representation of her. This comparison is probably made because the Goddess symbolizes war, strength, and protection, and having an avenging woman as the film's protagonist plays into that symbol. Not only does the whole setup of the movie in the Durga Puja provide an intense and pleasing aesthetic, but it also satisfies a majority of the audience by including a large number of Hindutva symbols. Regardless of the film's multiple feminist approaches, there is a strong male influence on how a character has been depicted and how the audience, particularly the men and the society holding patriarchal values, receive the depiction. Thus, likening the strong female character to a goddess status dehumanizes most of her qualities by making her seem unrealistic in a certain sense.
In conclusion, however feminist it may portray itself to be, no text is entirely free from masculine concoctions. The patriarchy of Indian society blatantly bleeds into our cinema. It supports the feminist theories performatively but under the guise of dehumanized and unrealistic female characters, thus feeding into the very patriarchy the films are trying to escape from.
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